CDCR To Close California Rehabilitation Center In Riverside County Next Year

The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation announced on Monday that the California Rehabilitation Center in Norco is set to close by the fall of 2026 because of a declining number of prisoners and the latest state budget demanding at least one new prison closure in the next year.

According to the CDCR, the closure of the California Rehabilitation Center in Riverside County will save the state $150 million annually. The CDCR also said that the closure was necessary, as the state’s inmate population has fallen by 82,000 prisoners in the last 20 years, going from a peak of 173,000 in 2006 to about 91,000 today.

“Responding to projections of lower prison populations in future years and providing for needed cost savings, today, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) announced the plans to close the California Rehabilitation Center (CRC) in Riverside County by Fall 2026,” said the CDCR in a statement. “CDCR is committed to managing its resources responsibly to enhance public safety and best serve the people of California. California’s 2025-26 budget called for a prison closure, one of many challenging actions required to address the state’s fiscal position. The full deactivation of CRC is projected to save the state approximately $150 million in annual General Fund spending.

“CDCR is taking every effort to mitigate the impact on staff, volunteers, and the population throughout the deactivation process. The state will provide support to the affected local community and workforce with an economic resiliency plan.”

Originally opening in 1928 as the Lake Norconian Club, the hotel became known for hosting many of the wealthy and Hollywood elite in the 20’s and 30’s, including the infamous Snow White wrap party hosted by Walt Disney in 1938. After being used as a Naval hospital during WWII, it first became a narcotics rehab center before being converted into a prison in the late 1980s. After a visit by then Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2007, the overcrowded prison removed it’s women’s section, becoming an all-male facility. However, the aging facility continued to be on the short-list of possible prison closures for years. This led to the announcement on Monday.

Incarceration advocates praised the decision by the CDCR and Governor Gavin Newsom, saying that the money saved from the prison operating could go to programs that had to recently be cut because of federal budget cuts to the state.

Newsom closes 5th prison under his tenure

“We applaud Governor Newsom’s decision to spare precious state resources by closing the state prison at Norco, a decision that will save taxpayers more than a billion dollars in capital improvement costs,” said Smart Justice California Director Anne Irwin. “Governor Newsom’s decision to close one of the state’s costliest prisons is the right resource reallocation at the right time,” Irwin said. “During a time when Californian’s leaders are scrambling to backfill funding for essential programs threatened by the disastrous Federal Republican budget cuts, this prison closure is precisely the spending reprioritization the state needs.”

However, law enforcement officials, as well as some political figures, blasted the decision, saying that the prison was needed and that it only highlighted Newsom’s “soft on crime” stance.

“Shuttering the prison in Norco eliminates essential physical space that relieves overcrowding, supports rehabilitative programming, and maintains a workable ratio between staff and incarcerated individuals,” explained Neil Flood, president of the California Correctional Peace Officers Association. “This balance is critical to safety for all Californians: reducing capacity while raising population density leads to more violence overall, both within institutions and beyond their walls.”

“Gavin Newsom’s soft-on-crime policies continue to put criminals ahead of victims. Shutting down another state prison while violent criminals continue to ravage our communities isn’t reform, it’s reckless,” added Riverside County Sheriff and 2026 California Gubernatorial candidate Chad Bianco in a statement. “Californians sent a clear message last November when they overwhelmingly supported a tougher-on-crime ballot measure. We should be investing in accountability, not weakening our ability to hold criminals responsible. As governor, I’ll stand with victims, put public safety first and reopen the prisons Gavin Newsom shut down. It’s time for a change.”

When it closes next year, the CRC will become the fifth prison to close under Newsom’s tenure. It will follow the closures of the Deuel Vocational Institution in Tracy in 2021, the California Correctional Center in Susanville in 2023,  the California City Correctional Facility in California city in March 2024 and the Chuckwalla Valley State Prison in Blythe in October 2024.

Despite the closure, local officials hope to bring the prison back to it’s former glory as a hotel. In 2023, many city lawmakers hoped to bring in a developer for the site to utilize the historic Art Deco buildings and bring it back in some way as a hotel or resort should the prison close. Another possibility is the CRC following the footsteps of California City and having the facility be in line to become an ICE facility or other similar federal facility. For some in Sacramento, including Governor Newsom that result would likely create future political issues for them.

For now, the facility is due for closure, but unlike other cities hit economically hard by the prison closure like Susanville or Blythe, it could see a renovation and revitalization.